Dolly Parton Reveals Her Real Hair & Why She Wears Wigs

Dolly Parton is known for her super-teased, super-blonde strands, but she’s also the first to admit that her iconic do is super-faux.

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The 70-year-old country crooner, who recently made an appearance on Hallmark Channel’s Home & Family, opened up to the show’s hosts, Mark Steines and Cristina Ferrare, about her famous mane, which is actually the result of a very teased wig.

“I used to try to keep my own hair teased as big as I like it, and having the bleach and all of that, it just broke off,” she confessed to Steines and Ferrare. “I thought, ‘Why am I going through all that? Why don’t I just wear wigs? That way, I never have a bad hair day! I have a big hair day, but not a bad hair day.”

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And if you’re curious about the singer’s heightened hairstyle, there’s a reason behind all that volume — it’s customary in her line of work.

“Well, the higher the hair, as they say…” she quipped. “But actually, I like the curls. I like the different ones. Gospel singers and country singers just have to have that big hair. It’s just a thing.”

Parton then went on to show off three of her wigs — all teased to perfection — which date back to as early as 1973. “It’s a funny thing because when I wear this big hair, because I’m so tiny, my husband always says I look like a Q-Tip,” she said, laughing. “It’s nothing but a big white wad on my head!”

The singer, who recently celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary to her longtime love Carl Thomas Dean, also shared the sweet story of how the two met as well as details on their vow renewal to commemorate 50 years of marriage.

Although Parton originally wore a short white dress to her original ceremony in 1966, she donned a gorgeous lacy design the second time around, which she showed off on the show.

“I wanted a big beautiful dress that I didn’t get to have before,” she said. “So this is actually my wedding dress. We got married, well, re-married, a few days ago. And my husband hates pictures, so I didn’t bring any pictures. And I told him, ‘You’re worse than my first husband,’ which was him!”